The present disclosure relates generally to wellbore stimulation in the oil and gas industry and, more particularly, to downhole tools that increase fluid pressures at intended localities within a wellbore.
To produce hydrocarbons (e.g., oil, gas, etc.) from a subterranean formation, wellbores may be drilled to penetrate hydrocarbon-bearing portions of the subterranean formation, commonly referred to as “production zones.” In some instances, a subterranean formation penetrated by the wellbore may have multiple production zones or “production intervals” at various locations along the wellbore.
After a wellbore has been drilled to a desired depth, completion operations are performed. Such completion operations may include inserting a liner or casing into the wellbore and cementing the casing or liner into place. Once the wellbore is completed as desired, a stimulation operation may be performed to enhance hydrocarbon production from the surrounding production intervals into the wellbore. Examples of some common stimulation operations involve hydraulic fracturing, acidizing, fracture acidizing, and hydrajetting. Stimulation operations are intended to increase the flow of hydrocarbons into the wellbore from the surrounding subterranean formation so that the hydrocarbons may then be produced up to a wellhead.
In some applications, individual locations or spans of fractures may be created and spaced from each other at predetermined distances along the axial length of a wellbore. The multiple fracture locations provide corresponding production intervals that may be individually stimulated to increase hydrocarbon production. More particularly, each production interval can be hydraulically fractured by injecting a high pressure fracturing fluid containing a proppant into the fractures. The proppant comprises sized particles that penetrate into the fractures and hold the fractures open after the hydraulic fracturing treatment ceases. In wellbores that have axially adjacent production intervals, it can sometimes be difficult to convey high pressure fracturing fluids into one production interval where a high pressure fracturing treatment is desired, while avoiding over-pressurization of the adjacent production interval where increased fluid pressures could potentially damage the adjacent production interval.